living_eberronfandomcom-20200214-history
Adera ir'Reinard
A proud member of the Knights Arcane, Adera seeks to restore her family's tarnished reputation after her brother deserted. She is assisting the Wayfinder Foundation on orders from her commanding officer who admires the good work they (and Aiden) do on the hopes she will understand why he was not extradited. Appearance While not armored, Adera does not appear to be a remotely capable combatant at first glance. She's thin, has visible cheek bones, is a touch pale and her arms are wiry at best. For this reason she tends to be armor clad as often as is appropriate, proudly wearing Aundarian colors and symbols on her well-polished armor. She typically carries a quiver and a backpack but, oddly, no weapons. In non-armor appropriate situations, Adera will dress in what can be described as 'sporty noble finery' of the sort one might wear riding a horse while also posing for a portrait. Often her shirt will have puffed sleeves and a ruffled chest, though she generally eschews the typical long skirt for a more practical set of pants. An Aundarian noble would probably notice her style is well out of date with fashion trends, though she seems to take pride in not caring about that. Adera will keep herself as clean as she can given the demands of the situation and will often prestidigitate stains or dirt away as soon as possible, though she tries not to let it get in the way of her fighting. She has an extremely nasty scar on her belly and will go out of her way to avoid people seeing it. History Adera was born the youngest daughter to a minor noble family in Fairhaven in 972 YK, 11 years after her brother Aiden. Not even days after leaving the womb, poor luck left the infant Adera to grapple with a disease she was not expected to survive; fortunately, with good care and a small miracle, Adera lived, though it left her appearance permanently looking pale and a bit sickly. With the family's nobility driven in part by service to the crown, she grew up in the shadow of her brother Aiden who was already being drilled with swordsmanship and arcane schooling before Adera could even walk. Her father especially would often describe how the family's fortunes hinged on Aiden's rising star to explain why so much of his attention was on his eldest son. Though a good explanation and though her parents were still always loving, Adera often acted up merely to get attention and not a week would go by without her being reprimanded for her poor attitude and behavior unbecoming of nobility. In her pre-teen years, Adera (driven mostly by jealousy and a desire to outshine Aiden) attempted to learn swordplay on her own, away from her parents and prying eyes. Unfortunately, thanks to her childhood illness, her body remained frail and physical combat seemed laughable and reckless. That, of course, did not stop her. Predictably, she returned home one day with a nasty cut on her arm and a blabbermouth 'friend' to explain how it happened. Horrified, her father read her the riot act and forbade her touch a weapon again. Experienced in such things, Aiden also took it upon himself to bestow cautionary advice about combat for the untrained to which Adera responded with curses, shouting and baseless accusations. After that, the pair didn't spend much time together and Aiden left for military service soon after. Even after her bother moved out, Adera still felt like all the family attention was on him. Frequent letters from the front were the topic of every conversation the family had for weeks on end. When he was inducted into the Knight's Arcane you would think he'd singlehandedly won the war for how much celebration there was. Knowing she'd probably be laughed out of a military academy, Alicia never joined in the war and spent most of her time in magical studies and noble soirees. Indeed, drinking wine, schmoozing and hanging out with the more questionable parts of the nobility quickly became her main habits and her career path seemed to be veering towards "being an embarrassment to the family." Still, as an attractive minor noble she did, at least, manage to catch the eye of a wealthier noble male. Although his family at the time was far more interested in Aiden's career as a Knight Arcane than Adera's personality, she had no objections to an unofficial betrothal, especially given their son was rather easy to bully into things and she could get away with anything she wanted with him. Still, with a marriage prospect, good wine and good parties, life was 'at least OK' according to Adera. At least until the Day of Mourning changed everything. Though it didn't get physically colder, one could have felt a chill sweep through Khorvaire. The wining and carousing came to a halt and Adera, along with most of the civilians in Aundair, fell silent, lost and scared. Time stood still. Adera's parents could do nothing but wait for word from the front. Even Adera couldn't resist the melancholic pall that hung over the house. For a time, all the anger and resentment she had bottled up for her brother seemed so... petty. She too, needed to know he was alright. Information came in drips over the next few days. When the talk of "His unit returned from the front but without him." reached the family's ears, her mother nearly had a heart attack. Talk of him having deserted the unit was initially dismissed as nonsense from traumatized soldiers. Unfortunately, as weeks went by, more and more stories came out and more and more noble families started to believe it. The family, Adera included, resisted the rumors vigorously until official word came in from the Knights Arcane. Aiden deserted his unit and the knights. Stories from the soldiers told a tale of him helping the refugees instead of his country and most of them vouched for his character... but the details were overshadowed by one singular truth: He deserted the Knights Arcane. That is not a slight the organization takes lightly. The official dishonorable discharge was followed up with a timely dip in the family business. Where once nobles and commoners alike happily purchased horses and trade goods from the ir'Reinard shops, fewer and fewer people dared associate themselves with the name. Money dried up and with it Adera's ability to drink and schmooze. To make matters wore, Alicia's fiance, tired of her bossy attitude and her apologetically cheating on him several times with several different men, quickly took the chance to cut off the relationship, his family all too eager to sever ties to a shamed family name. For all of Adera's resentment of never having the spotlight, she suddenly found herself with an abundance of it. Her father, at his wits end trying not to sell the house, dragged her into his office. There, with her mother silently and incessantly hang-wringing the entire time, Adera was given the 'shape up or ship out' talk. No longer would her antics be tolerated as the family could not afford to have two marks of shame in it. Adera protested, of course, but the purse held great power over her and eventually, with great venom and resentment, she indeed 'shaped up'. As the family business struggled more and more Adera was forced to occasionally work as a mere stable-hand just to keep the business afloat. To top it off, none of her flings were particularly interested in marriage or even being seen in public with her after their name was soured. Having little business sense and only a smattering of hedge magic and a slowly increasing tolerance for horse smell being her only real skills, Adera's future was looking a tad bleak. No matter what she did, the family's noble status was starting to be a joke with the ir'Reinard children being pariahs of varying degrees. However, a ray of hope came one day in the form of a noble patrician who took interest in marrying Adera and even giving the family a generous wedding present for the trouble. Older by 2 score summers, Adera was not particularly on board with the offer and, fortunately for her, her parents were in agreement. The man, however, was a powerful figure in Fairhaven and not for any of the good reasons one might hope. Rumors of him trading in drugs and being a fairly dangerous figure were abundant, though of course no one could prove anything. Though under no pressure from her parents, Adera, having to go through a time of reflection, realized that the man likely only caught wind of her thanks to her occasional drug-laden dalliances in her youth. This guilt made the increasing pressure and just barely threatening tone from the man harder for her to ignore as more and more of the family's troubles felt more and more like her fault. It wasn't until a year later when her father was preparing to fire one of their long-time stable hands (the one that taught Adera the basics of animal handling) that Adera stepped in and declared she would accept the man's proposal. The marriage was quick and a shockingly small affair for a noble marriage. Granted, neither side wanted the public eye on them. Adera soon moved in with the man, who strongly implied she would not have much time to see her family again which would prove to be correct. Months of idle time in her husband's estate passed with news of the ir'Reinard business revitalizing and a life of relative luxury for Adera. Though not in love with her husband by any stretch, he wasn't ugly and he was both too protective of her to let her work and too busy to cramp her style. Things were looking like they were 'at least OK' again. ...At least until one fateful winter night. Her husband had always been a bit of an odd one but that night he was downright indecipherable. Mumbling things about a 'sickly figure born under a dark Zarantyr while Kythri was coterminous' and 'create the Sword of Gaunt Shadows from the shard of Rak Tulkhesh', he directed Adera to their wine cellar where a deeply disturbing array of candles and painted symbology had manifested on the walls amid several cloaked figures. Before she could say 'What is all this?' her husband was on her with a sacrificial dagger made from a khybershard. What happened next is is vague in Adera's memory ...apart from the incredible, screaming pain in her stomach. THAT remains a very clear memory. Apart from that, however, she would tell you there was a red haze, screaming (not all of it hers) and a desperate spark of violence for self defense she never knew she had. Her head cleared in time to find herself surrounded by the bodies of cultists and her dead husband along with a black metal longsword clutched tight in her hand, it and herself soaked in their blood with her stomach now sporting a nasty but closed up scar. The fallout was swift, public and a gods'sent. Not knowing what else to do, Adera went straight to Fairhaven's local authorities, even though she was rightly terrified of the repercussions. As it turned out, the head marshal was thrilled to death to have a previously untouchable drug trader rightly offed in a clear cut case of self defense. Without the man's shield of influence, more than a dozen drug dens were raided and dismantled that very night. Stories of her brave struggle against the cult spread almost as quickly as they were exaggerated in the following days. Adera, realized she was now inexplicably in possession of a creepily good fighting skill she had no business having and decided to take advantage. Declaring her victory was due to her having been practicing magic and swordplay in secret, she announced plans to join the Knights Arcane to restore the family's honor. The public attention got her foot in the door... and that was all she needed. The road was not easy. For more than a year Adera had many a hardship, with colorful characters, all too numerous and flavorful to describe here. But eventually Adera, stubborn and driven,, was inducted into the ranks just in time for word to arrive that Aiden had joined the Wayfinder Foundation and was making a name for himself as a powerful and noble adventurer having fought trolls or some nonsense she paid no attention to. Incensed, Adera went to her commanding officer, demanding she drag the deserter back home to face justice. The officer, however, happened to be one of the soldiers Aiden escorted home and was sympathetic towards his reasons for desertion. Though she was told to drop it, her dogged persistence wore the poor man down. Eventually, he struck a deal with the Wayfinder Foundation to get Adera inducted into the ranks. He then told her to find her brother and help him with his next mission to see if she still thinks he deserves extradition and not return until she finds hard evidence of further crimes or gives up on bringing him back; partially out of a desire to repay his old officer and partly to get Adera out of his hair. The Last War Adera was far too frail a figure for combat and never participated in The Last War. The family, however, hung on letters from the front as Aiden fought with the Knights Arcane, acquired scars and trained soldiers. It was the Day of Mourning and her brother's desertion that served as a catalyst for Adera to change her otherwise unruly behavior. Invitation Adera's commanding officer in the Knights Arcane, a man named Kleris Merchiot,contacted the Wayfinder Foundation and requested a slightly odd arrangement where she would serve as an adventurer while keeping an eye on her brother. They would get a skilled combatant to assist their good work and Adera would (hopefully) not find any criminal activities and it would serve to exonerate Aiden, thus making their relationship with their member less complicated. They have assurances that Adera has been given strict orders to not let her zeal for justice get in the way of their business and she will not extradite Aiden back to Aundair without just cause and approval from her superiors. Experience Adera's claim to being exceptional enough for the Wayfinder Foundation stems from a combination of martial training from the Knights Arcane and stories of her having felled a band of cultists singlehandedly. Motivation Adera takes her work very seriously, knowing that her status and the status of her family hinges on her performing admirably. While that sounds very high minded and noble, ultimately she knows a comfortable life hinges on her success. Also she blames Aiden for a great deal of her troubles and is quite eager to prove she is better than her brother who long overshadowed her.. Future Goals Adera wants nothing more than to secure her family's noble status and then rest comfortably on her laurels. Performing heroic acts will certainly help her achieve that end. Secrets While not a secret to anyone who knew her in her youth, Adera had a bit of a penchant for drugs, alcohol and lurid affairs and she would prefer to keep that fact quiet while she's trying very hard to appear respectable. Adera's combat ability comes entirely from her pact weapon but she tries to pass off her strange magic and fighting style as a product of her being self-taught and naturally talented. She's not. It's the sword. she has no idea what kind of power it holds or how dangerous it might be. Enemies The shattered remnants of the drug cartel that was owned by her late husband probably don't like her, given she was the catalyst that caused their dissolution. If there was anyone in the cult not present (and therefore still alive) for the attempt at ritually sacrificing Adera, they are likely unhappy with her merciless butchering of their fellows. (Secret) There is a fairly good possibility that after the cult business, she's become a thread in the grand tapestry that is the prophecies of the overlords. She prefers to think the business ended with her stabbing them to death. (Secret) Her sword. In combat it gives her a zeal for violence that is a touch uncomfortable and questionably controlled. It's bleeding into her personality in very subtle ways over time. Personality Personality Traits * Adera tries to maintain a serious, professional attitude at all time, knowing that her future depends on her acting the part of a Knight Arcane very well. Indeed, a lot hinges on her performance this way. * Deep down, Adera is reckless, stubborn and sassy. Humble pie is to be eaten only under the most extreme of circumstances. * If Adera intends to kill someone in combat, she sometimes adopts a merciless attitude coupled with an uncomfortably robust zeal for violence. Very rarely, this will come out in fits of anger outside combat as well. * Though the subject of her late husband is a topic that is best left buried as deep as humanly possible, she found a simple joy in cooking for him during their time together and will occasionally let her mask down to enjoy cooking for others. She also has a weakness for cute animals. Ideals * Adera professes love of country and high-minded nobility. She believes in them up to a point. Deep down, however, she really only wants status so her life can be easier and maybe to outdo her brother. * She really, really wants to prove she's better than Aiden in that petty, petty way only a sibling can feel. Bonds * Her brother Aiden, who she wishes to outdo and who she blames for a fair bit of her woes. * Her parents who she is still trying to prove herself to. * Her commanding officer, Kleris Merchiot, in the Knights Arcane who she's under orders from and can't risk upsetting. Strengths * Adera is eager to prove herself and consequentially is quite brave. * Her forceful personality will sometimes solve problems all by itself. Flaws * Adera can be a touch reckless and her zeal for violence can be intimidating. * She has a lot of baggage and is not above concealing things and lying to smooth things over. Completed Missions None Yet! Some day. Some day... Crunch XP & Gold Log This transaction list must include all finished expeditions and the gold/XP earned for each, as well as all expenditures (what you bought and for how much). Inventory * Scale Mail * Cook's Untensils * Backpack * Waterskin * Torch (10) * Tinderbox * Ration (5) * Silk Rope (50 Feet) * Bedroll * Fine Clothes * ir'Reinard Signet Ring * Scroll of Pedigree * Quiver * Arrow (20) Character Sheet * https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2098316 Category:Characters